Mushrooms and Clams

It was sunny and warm on Mon Dec 8 on Tomales Bay. The water clarity was fantastic for a muddy bay, perhaps 8-10 meters. I took a more reasonably paddle this time to Hog Island Oysters, about 8 miles. Someone was digging for steamer clams on a rocky shore near the oyster farm (limit 50 a day, minimum 1.5 inches). I'll have to try that someday.

My brother found oyster mushrooms growing on one of his logs of firewood. We ate a bunch, them saved the log hoping to nurse some more. He's wondering if he should water it every now and then. He may stumble into become a mushroom farmer after all.

Tomales Bay

My brother just told me that the oysters at Tomales Bay Oyster Company (the oyster farm across from his house) aren't really local. They are brought in from elsewhere and "stored" in the bay for a number of days or weeks before being sold. In additional to the non-local food aspect, he says they lack the terroir of Tomales Bay, so he prefers Drake's and Hog Island.

You can see pictures of him kayaking around the bay here. The Tuesday after Thanksgiving I kayaked from the house in Inverness to Hog Island (not the eponymous oyster company, but Hog Island itself) and back. It was about 20 miles (7 hours), the furthest I have kayaked by far. It felt pretty good, though my wrist is sore from feathering the paddle about 100,000 times.

Here's a local beach. Below is a picture of the bay taken from his house. Oh, and Copia (see October) just filed for Chapter 11.